54-year-old custodian graduates from college he spent years cleaning

On May 14, Michael Vaudreuil walked across the stage to receive his college diploma. He wore a cap bearing the message, “Old Dog Has New Tricks.”

Which makes sense, given he’s some 20 years older than most of his peers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he works as a custodian.

The 54-year-old says he never intended to leave the school with a degree in tow when he first started in his job almost 10 years ago. Vaudreuil applied for the custodial position at the Worchester, Mass., school in 2007 after his plastering company closed due to the recession.

He had lost his home, business and more. His 66-year-old mother had also recently passed. Looking to take his mind off the onslaught of tragedy, Vaudreuil says he decided that taking a class or two couldn’t hurt, especially given that the school lets employees take one course per term free of charge.

“Each year, many employees do take advantage of this benefit, but . . . it is mostly for graduate level courses,” Colleen Wamback, a public relations specialist for WPI tells USA TODAY College. “This year, Michael Vaudreuil was the only employee to graduate with his bachelor’s degree.”

He enrolled in the fall semester of 2008.

“To deal with all of the depression … I took some classes in psychology,” Vaudreuil tells USA TODAY College.

Going back to college (he earned an associate’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1982, the Washington Postreports) helped turn his life around, he says.

“I felt really good (at the end of the first term),” Vaudreuil says. “It was the first thing that happened in a really long time that was good. I ended up getting an ‘A,’ and it was really the first step of rehabilitating my self esteem. It set a spark going; It was dim, but after each successful class that spark got brighter and brighter, and bigger and bigger.”

While the psychology courses gave him some much-needed clarity, Vaudreuil says he wasn’t sure it was the right path for him in the long run. So he did what many college students do (much to their parents’ chagrin): he switched majors and began studying mechanical engineering.

“I realized, ‘Hey, if I keep this up, I’ll get a degree,'” Vaudreuil says. “So I made the switch to mechanical engineering because I thought it suited me better and there were more job opportunities as a result of that degree.

That isn’t to say he said goodbye to psychology altogether. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in psychology.

Along with the reminder that “old dogs” can be taught new tricks, Vaudreuil also included a shout out to his family on his cap, adding each of his three children’s initials — one child per corner — to the mortarboard. He saved the final corner for his wife, Joy, who he points to as a pillar of support in his pursuit of a degree.

“I got a lot of help, support, and encouragement from my wife,” he says.

The WPI community helped, too. Vaudreuil says he was surprised to discover that, despite his age, neither the faculty nor his peers treated him differently during his academic career. He was simply another student to them.

“I was completely welcomed and it didn’t seem to be an issue for anybody,” Vaudreuil says. “The only awkwardness about it was me thinking that there might be.”

Emma Kinery is a University of Michigan student and a USA TODAY College breaking news correspondent.